The captain and fifth-year Hitmen forward surely will be motivated considering this could be his last junior game. Although the leadership corps has been a concerted group effort, Sylvester has been the team’s heart-and-soul this post-season and they’ll need him to be at his best tonight.

DEPTH CHART

J. Virtanen B. Brassart C. Sylvester

E. Peterson V. Rask B. Macek G. Chase C. Brooks Z. Jones

C. Mayor C. Clayton P. Padakin

J. Rissling S. Humphries

A. Roach J. Zgraggen

P. Kosterman C. Harmsworth C. Driedger

M. Shields

THE INJURIES

D Kenton Helgesen (hand)

THE OIL KINGS

KEEP YOUR EYE ON

G LAURENT BROSSOIT

The Hitmen are going to do their best to get the Calgary Flames draft pick off his game early. Apart from a rough start to Game 1 (where he let in two goals on five shots as the Hitmen won 3-2 in overtime) How will he stand up to the challenge?

DEPTH CHART

M. St. Croix T.J. Foster T. Cheek

H. Samuelsson C. Lazar S. Legault

D. Wruck T. Ewanyk M. Moroz

B. Baddock C. Benson E. Kulda

K. Lowe D. Musil

A. Sautner M. Gernat

D. Mayo C. Corbett

L. Brossoit

T. Jarry

THE INJURIES

D Griffin Reinhart (foot), RW Luke Bertolucci (upper body)

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH

1. Must-win — For the Edmonton Oil Kings, it’s their first do-or-die game of the post-season. For the Hitmen, they’ve been there done that already as Sunday’s Game 6 extended their playoff life for one more night. The last time Calgary played a Game 7 was the opening round of the 2010 playoffs against the Moose Jaw Warriors. That year, the Hitmen overcame 2-0 and 3-1 deficits en route to the WHL championship. Meanwhile, Portland forced a Game 7 against the Oil Kings last season in the WHL championship final after Edmonton had won Games 4 and 5. The Oil Kings, of course, finished off the Winterhawks at Rexall with a convincing 4-1 win.

2. First strike — Apart from last Thursday’s series opener, the Oil Kings have scored first in every game and have outscored the Hitmen 12-2 in the opening 20 minutes. This has to change and Calgary has one last chance to do so. The Hitmen need to come storming out of the gates if they want to even have a chance against the motivated 2012 WHL champions tonight. “We want to focus on the start and the first period and make sure we’re ready to play,” Hitmen head coach Mike Williamson said.

3. Close call — Sunday’s Game 6 was Calgary’s seventh overtime game of the playoffs and their third straight OT victory. However, it was the first where their backs were really against the wall. The Hitmen were down 3-1 heading into the third period and received stellar goaltending from Chris Driedger and also had their veteran core — 20-year-olds Spencer Humphries, captain Cody Sylvester, and Brooks Macek — step up.

4. Penalty kill — Sure, the Hitmen have been caught for discipline issues (remember Game 2’s 101-penalty minute debacle?). But they’ve also managed to keep the league’s top power play off the scoresheet for quite some time. The Oil Kings haven’t connected on 15 straight power-play opportunities, including an 0-for-6 stretch in Friday’s 5-1 loss in Game 5 and 0-for-5 in Sunday’s Game 6 4-3 overtime win.

5. Rattie is rocking — Airdrie’s Ty Rattie is leading the way this 2013 WHL post season. For the Portland Winterhawks, the St. Louis Blues prospect has netted 15 goals and 16 assists in 15 playoff games (including a short-handed marker to help finish off the Kamloops Blazers in Game 5). As a result, he was named the series MVP. No doubt, he’ll be a face to watch in the WHL final against whichever team emerges from this dogfight. And they’ll also be in tough against the Winterhawks, period. “Our speed is unbelievable,” Rattie told Paul Danzer of The Columbian in Vancouver, Wash. “Three teams in these playoffs couldn’t handle our speed. We wore them down with our speed.”

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